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Well. Hello.
And that's it, nothing happened to me. I just got stuck on the fight scene because, in case it isn't obvious, I don't like writing fight scenes. They feel like filler to me. I prefer drama.
On another note, the upcoming chapters will be published daily, up to chapter 66.
That's all for now, until tomorrow.
DieCC/Thegamer2403 signing off. See you next time.
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In the midst of the sepulchral silence that enveloped the group, a small Xenos goblin who had never seen the light of day commented with a mixture of disappointment and amazement.
"I thought the sky above was blue."
Hermes, who did not take his eyes off the green sky, answered in a faint voice filled with bitterness.
"That's how it should be."
The god was deathly pale. His senses were going haywire. He could feel a surge of excessive, dense energy emanating directly from above them.
The fact that he could perceive it so clearly despite not being an expert at sensing energy and having his arcanum sealed was the most alarming sign of all.
Suddenly, a meteorite struck nearby, causing an explosion that illuminated the faces of those present with a greenish glow. The ground shook violently beneath their feet, forcing the Xenos to maintain their balance.
Bell gritted his teeth, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword. The tension in his body was so intense that his knuckles had turned white. Hermes, regaining some composure in the face of the situation, placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.
"Bell-kun go. You must return to Hestia immediately," the god urged with absolute seriousness. "We can handle hiding the Xenos from here. Don't waste any more time."
The boy nodded. Without another word, he turned and started running as the sky continued to roar and the tremors persisted.
Bell left the building with a burning urgency in his chest. His first instinct was to pound the ground and open a new tunnel that would connect him directly to the Mansion, but he stopped dead in his tracks when he felt a vibration far more violent than the previous ones.
And above all, much closer.
Just a few meters away, a meteorite had struck a nearby structure, reducing it to smoldering rubble. Bell watched in confusion as several adventurers from the surrounding area, some with singed armor and open wounds, approached the crater instead of fleeing. However, his doubt lasted only a moment.
From the bottom of the crater, a colossal hand of black stone engulfed in intense green flames rose and slammed into the edge of the path with a thunderous crash. Slowly, the creature emerged from the depths of the impact. Its body was composed of massive blocks of flaming rock that floated independently, with no visible physical connection between them, held in a humanoid form solely by the green fire that emanated from them.
It had disproportionately massive shoulders and long arms that ended in fists the size of a person, supported by short, sturdy legs that cracked the ground with every movement.
His Divine Blessing of Context revealed the name of the aberration that had just fallen from the sky.
[Infernal]
Bell took a step back, feeling the suffocating heat emanating from the creature. The adventurers who had approached attempted a coordinated attack, but the Infernal simply let out a deep roar and slammed one of its fists into the ground. The shockwave, charged with green fire, sent the adventurers flying through the air like ragdolls.
Seeing that the wounded adventurers at the creature's mercy, Bell didn't hesitate. He abandoned the idea of retreating and launched an attack with blinding speed, determined to destroy the monster before it could cause a tragedy.
With his sword drawn, he lunged forward. Surprisingly, the Infernal moved past him mechanically, practically ignoring the boy's presence as it focused its attention on the people on the ground. Bell immediately seized the opportunity.
He slid nimbly just beneath the enormous floating structure of the stone golem.
Concentrating all the power in his legs, he executed an upward vertical slash with tremendous force. The blade of his sword tore through the air with a sharp hiss, piercing the core of green fire and rising with such speed and pressure that the cut surpassed the monster's height.
The Infernal lurched violently backward, halting its advance. The rocks that formed its body vibrated erratically, and green fire crackled fiercely, making it turn its attention toward Bell for the first time.
However, it was already too late for the creature. Bell didn't give it time to recover. Taking advantage of his sword being raised he followed through with a downward vertical slash, fluid and violent.
The downward blow sliced through the blocks of igneous rock that made up its body, cleaving the golem in half. The two halves of the Infernal collapsed on either side of Bell, losing their greenish glow and becoming mere inert stones that crumbled against the shattered pavement.
Bell didn't waste a single second after seeing the golem's lifeless remains scattered across the ground. Before the injured adventurers could get up or utter a word, he stamped his foot twice on the cracked pavement. Instantly, a tunnel opened up beneath him, and without hesitation, Bell plunged inside, letting gravity pull him hurtling toward his destination.
As he slid through the darkness of the conduit, the echoes of the explosions outside continued to reverberate loudly through the earth. He knew perfectly well that the sky was still tearing apart and that more Infernals were falling on Orario at that very moment.
However, he tried to calm his anxiety with a logical thought. The city boasted top-tier warriors. Executives from the Loki Familia, the Freya Familia, and other high-ranking adventurers would soon mobilize to contain the invasion and confront those stone creatures.
They could handle the city. At that moment, his mind and heart had a single purpose. His priority was to reach the Mansion, protect his goddess, and ensure his friends' safety.
Bell quickly opened a tunnel beneath his feet and launched himself forward.
A few seconds passed until he finally managed to glimpse the light at the end of the tunnel again.
He leaped out of the ground, landing on his feet as dust settled around him. Just a few feet away, in the open courtyard, he could see the rest of his Familia.
Mikoto stood there, holding Hestia firmly in her arms as if she were carrying a small child. Beside her, Lena stood alert, one hand resting protectively on Haruhime's shoulder. Haruhime trembled slightly as she surveyed her surroundings with her ears lowered and her tail tucked in.
"My home… why… did it have to be destroyed again? It's not fair…" Hestia murmured in a broken voice.
Bell followed the direction of her desolate gaze and turned toward the main structure of the mansion. There was a colossal hole that pierced the roof and part of the facade. The edges of the breach were still smoldering with a persistent green fire, making it clear that a meteorite had struck the building head-on.
"Bell-dono!" Mikoto exclaimed, breaking the trance. Despite the goddess's weight in her arms, the warrior straightened her back and let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad to see you're safe."
Bell forced a small smile, trying to convey a calmness that he himself did not feel at that moment.
"I'm glad you're alright too," the boy replied, moving closer to gently stroke Hestia's head in an attempt to comfort her, though the goddess barely reacted. "But… please, tell me what happened here."
Mikoto nodded gravely, adjusting her grip on Hestia before explaining what had happened.
"We were inside when the ground started shaking. One of those green meteorites fell on the mansion, and we barely had time to get out before everything started to crumble. But a golem monster formed from the rock."
Bell recalled his recent confrontation with the Infernal in the street and nodded, understanding the danger.
"Did you manage to eliminate it?" he asked, looking at Mikoto and then at Lena.
Mikoto immediately shook her head, showing a mixture of astonishment and seriousness on her face.
"No, it wasn't us. Just as the monster was preparing to attack us, Lord Hedin appeared out of nowhere. It was incredibly fast. He didn't even fully unsheathe his sword. He channeled his lightning magic in the blink of an eye and destroyed the golem with terrifying precision and speed."
Mikoto paused briefly, recalling the elf's attitude.
"And after destroying it… he just turned around and walked away. He didn't say a word to us, not even a glance."
Bell let out a long sigh, feeling a huge amount of the physical tension leave his shoulders. His friends were alive and completely unharmed, and that was all that truly mattered amidst this apocalyptic madness.
However, the information about his Familia's savior planted a new seed of unease in his mind.
It was not typical of an executive of the Freya Familia to wander around the suburbs of Orario by mere chance in the midst of a massive crisis, let alone to defend a property of the Hestia Familia.
The thought of Freya potentially watching his surroundings even after their fight and his declaration that he never wanted to see her again made his stomach churn.
The overall situation was utter chaos. The sky remained a sickly green, meteorites continued to fall in the distance, Infernals were invading the surface, his home was in ruins for the second time, and to top it all off, he had to deal with his love life problems once again.
Bell slowly lowered his gaze to the scorched grass. He clenched his fists at his sides and let out a final sigh.
"Damn."
Mikoto, who kept her gaze fixed on the white-haired man's face, narrowed her eyes as she noticed an alarming detail in the greenish light of the sky. Amidst the shadows of exhaustion and the grime of battle, two perfect lines of dark, dried crimson descended from Bell's tear ducts down his cheeks, tracing the exact path of what must have been two tears of pure blood.
"Bell-dono… is that… blood?" Mikoto asked, a thread of doubt and growing concern in her voice.
Upon hearing those words, Hestia, who had seemed lost in an apathetic trance in Mikoto's arms, instantly sprang to life. Panic banished her sadness over the destroyed house, and she began to squirm, trying to get Mikoto to put her down. Haruhime, meanwhile, let out a small, stifled gasp and hurried over, her trembling hands reaching out toward her hero.
"Bell-sama?! What happened to your eyes?!" exclaimed the renard, her eyes moist with anguish.
"Wait, it's nothing, really. It doesn't hurt," Bell tried to reassure her, awkwardly raising his hands and taking a step back.
But Hestia had already broken free from Mikoto and, her breath ragged, ignored the boy's protests. She stood before him and began to roughly but with extreme care wipe the dried blood from his left cheek.
"What do you mean it's nothing?! I warned Hermes, I warned him clearly! I told him that if he allowed my Bell to return injured, he would pay dearly!" the goddess complained aloud, her voice breaking with rage and worry turning into tears.
However, the scene turned terrifying in the blink of an eye. The very instant Hestia's white cloth finished wiping away the dried bloodstain, leaving the skin clean, fresh blood began to trickle from Bell's eyes.
The thick liquid slid slowly down his cheek, tracing the same downward line they had just erased.
Hestia jumped back, her eyes wide, on the verge of complete panic. Mikoto and Haruhime stifled a scream, horrified by what seemed to be an active curse.
"Goddess, please, calm down!" Bell said quickly. He stepped forward, gently took her shoulders, and leaned toward her, lowering his voice to a whisper so only she could hear him clearly. "Please listen to me. It's… it's part of one of my blessings."
Hestia looked at him, trembling, without understanding.
"I don't know exactly why it happens," Bell continued softly, with a resigned and honest smile. "But after receiving that power, aside from becoming much stronger, it causes this. My eyes just bleed like this. But I swear on my life, I don't feel any pain, weakness, or discomfort. It's not hurting me… or at least that's what I think."
The goddess scrutinized him, searching for any hint of deception or hidden suffering in the boy's eyes. She sighed deeply, clenching her fists against her chest.
She wasn't convinced at all, but seeing Bell's remarkable calm and the urgency of the overall situation forced her to swallow her protests.
"Fine…" Hestia reluctantly agreed, looking away with a pout of frustration and worry. "But as soon as this is all over, you're going to explain to me exactly what kind of blessing makes my sweet Bell bleed."
…
On the outskirts of the majestic Tower of Babel, what used to be the beating heart of Orario had become a scene worthy of the apocalypse itself.
The sky, tinged with a sickly green, continued to spew meteorites at an unrelenting rate, and adventurers of all levels ran through the dust, smoke, and flames, trying to maintain defensive formations that crumbled within seconds.
How were they supposed to win, or even organize themselves, against a colossal enemy that literally fell from the sky without warning?
In a nearby plaza, reduced almost to rubble, a small group of adventurers had just accomplished a feat. After a brutal and intense battle, they had dealt the final blow to an Infernal.
The flames that held the creature's rocks together suddenly died out, and the enormous structure collapsed with a crash, becoming a lifeless pile of stone that crumbled among the rubble.
The group's leader collapsed to his knees, gasping for breath. Sweat, mixed with ash and blood, covered his forehead.
"By all the gods… that damned thing finally fell," Reid said, letting out a long, weary sigh. He wiped his face with his forearm and looked at his two companions. "Let's take advantage of this. It's time for a break."
One of the adventurers, a young lad holding a spear with trembling hands, stared at him with wide eyes, filled with absolute disbelief.
"A break?! Reid, look around! Those golems are still raining down! We can't stop!" the boy exclaimed.
Reid made a dismissive gesture with his hand, trying to downplay the situation so as not to lose his sanity.
"We've been fighting for almost three hours straight without stopping. If we don't catch our breath for a couple of minutes, exhaustion will kill us before those rocks do. I'm going to take this opportunity to check that destroyed tent over there. Maybe I'll find a bottle of wine that's still intact…"
Reid began to turn around, intending to walk toward the rubble of the building. However, he didn't complete the movement.
From the thick curtain of smoke and dust that enveloped the plaza's perimeter, a gigantic, scaly claw with monstrous musculature emerged with the speed of a whip. Before Reid could even react or utter a groan, the claw coiled with terrifying precision around his head and neck. With a swift, brutal movement, it snapped shut. The sound of bone, flesh, and helmet being crushed echoed throughout the plaza.
Reid's lifeless body fell heavily to the ground like an empty sack.
"REID!" his two companions shouted in unison, paralyzed by pure terror as horror froze their blood.
From the shadows and rising smoke, the creature's silhouette slowly revealed itself.
It was a bipedal, imposing figure with robust, gigantic proportions that exuded overwhelming pressure. The gloom and fire surrounding it obscured the details of its body, making two enormous red eyes the only bright, visible points on its face, gleaming with bloodthirsty fury.
The two surviving adventurers opened their mouths, trembling. Primal fear gripped their throats, preventing them from even finishing the word "MONSTER!"
They didn't have time to.
The dragon instantly opened its jaws, and from deep within its throat, it expelled a massive torrent of highly pressurized acidic blood.
The speed and force with which the substance was projected were so extreme that it looked like a crimson laser beam crossing the air.
The acid jet struck the two adventurers directly, and they were disintegrated in a fraction of a second.
The dragon glanced down at its right arm, which was covered in Reid's blood after it had smashed his head. With complete indifference, the creature spat a small stream of the same acidic substance directly onto its own limb to clean itself.
The blood of its victim and the dirt dissolved instantly, leaving its hard scales spotless.
Once clean, the creature raised its enormous head to the sky. It closed its eyes for a second and began taking deep breaths. It was searching for a very specific scent, a particular aroma that stood out above the destruction around it.
Suddenly, the dragon's gigantic red eyes snapped open. Its gaze fixed with absolute precision on a specific direction.
"I found it…"
The dragon took a heavy step that cracked the ground. Then it took another, drastically increasing its pace. Its hind legs drove off the shattered pavement, breaking into a frenzied, high-speed dash that kicked up gusts of wind and debris in its wake.
"I FOUND YOU, RABBIT!"